


Delivering Letters From the End of the Abyss

by OliveShen



Category: Under Night In-Birth (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23515258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliveShen/pseuds/OliveShen
Summary: Hyde ends the Night permanently by sacrificing his life to destroy the Abyss. He writes letters for everyone he cares about. Linne has all the letters at her disposal, and has to hunt down all recipients.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. The Denial

_ "Linne, I'm sure that some in:births find comfort in the Hollow Night. Yet all I can interpret is a tragedy. The jaws of the Night consumed countless, and only some live. _

_ You may find my next action to be reckless, stupid, and maybe even impossible. Yet I know I am able to achieve this. _

_ Destroying the Abyss... _

_ I find it benefitting. To everyone. To Orie, Yuzuriha, Waldstein, Vatista, and hell... _

_ Even you. _

_ What is my life to thousands of others who suffered the same turmoil as me? Maybe they suffered more. I cannot allow others to become in:births. I cannot allow voids to continue roaming. _

_ You said so yourself. The Night Blade protects. I am protecting any more future victims. _

_ I realize that they will never know my name. I've also realized that I'm such a hypocrite. _

_ Can you blame me? _

_ Before I became an in:birth, I thought life was boring. Now, I just want a normal life. One without in:births, voids, re:births, these immortal seals... _

_ I realize now that normal school life suits me best. My thoughts took it away from me... Or maybe, it was just my luck? Either way... _

_ If I can't have that life, I'll have to create it for the unfortunate. They won't know it, but, I'm giving them a gift. _

_ Maybe the in:births will hate me. I'm not sure I would care. Currently, I am a walking bullseye with a legendary sword. If I don't destroy the Abyss, they'll come after me anyway. I might even die by their hands. _

_ Just as Seth said. Do I really deserve this sword? _

_ Hah. I wonder what he'll say if I destroy the abyss. Would love to see the look on his face. _

_ We've never been friends, so I doubt he'll be sad. _

_ You know, I think he'll call me a fool even in death. Like I care...! _

_ Just so we're clear... _

_ If you're reading this letter, I have died. _

_ Oh, boy, this letter is a mess. Jumping from a topic to the next... _

_ Should've gave my last message more... effort. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. I wrote this the day of the Hollow Night. More specifically, the day I plan to destroy the Night. _

_ I'm off track. Agh... Linne. I made sure to come back before you to trash this letter if I ever chicken out. _

_ But, since you're reading this, I have either succeeded and died or died trying. _

_ I hope that I succeed. That means no more Night, no more seals... That means you can stop possessing kids.  _

_ That you can live one more full life. _

_ If I failed... _

_ Please ask Seth to end to your life instead. _

_ All along, you were right. I could never kill you, even though I promised. _

_ Me ending the abyss is my workaround. _

_ If you still have the seal... _

_ I'm sorry I failed. I'm sorry I died a meaningless death. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry I was chosen to wield Insulator instead of someone more capable. _

_ Seth was right. I didn't deserve to have this sword. _

_ I might as well end it off here. _

_ I have written down farewells to everyone. Orie, Yuzu, Wald, Vat, Seth, and you, of course. _

_ I made one for my parents, too.  _

_ I trust you'll send them off. Unlike this letter, there was a lot of effort put into those!  _

_ Will I see you again? _

_ I hope so! _

_ Goodbye, Linne! _

_ Thank you for bringing me this far! _

_ I appreciate it! More than you'll ever know! _

_ PS. I have written down every recipe I have cooked for you on the fridge door. Might as well, right? You've lived more years than I can count! Try to make some! Stop making eggs everytime you cook breakfast! " _

...

...

"Hyde... you... you idiot... "  My speech became unintelligible as my tears roll down my face and onto the paper. I try to dry my tears off of my face, and also the letter. My finger rubs the sentence 'Goodbye, Linne!' and more tears start flowing. I punch the wall with full force, sobbing, "You idiot..! Why!? Why did you have to play hero...?"

My voice was raspy, and I kicked the desk. "I know how valuable life is! Another child has been killed because of the Night... Hyde, you've ended your own future..! For the sake of everyone else's..? I... I should've been the one to do it..! I wish for death of my seal and myself... Why did..."

A realized in my grief, a letter with my name on it fell off the desk. I pick it up, and only stare at his handwriting.

He's not here. He did exactly what he said he would do in his letter. Destroy the Abyss. Destroy the Night. Destroy the seals. Destroy EXS.

Destroy himself...

I threw the letter back into a box with the rest. I flung myself onto the bed. I'm not ready to read it. I'm not ready.

Haha... are you serious? You've lived 500 years, seen people come and go, witnessed death and even went through death itself...

And yet, you're hung up over one person dying!

...

...

No, stop. Just let me grieve, Linne. Stop thinking you don't have the right to be sad. Sleep, if you must.

...

_... _

_... _

_ "Oh, don't hide it from me, Hyde! I know you're in love with that girl~" I tease and tickle him, and he desperately tries to push me away. "C'mon! Let me be your wingman! I've seen thousands of people never shoot their shot and suffer for it! Take it from me!" _

_ "Linne! Stop! Wah! I'm gonna die of tickles!" Hyde was crying from the tickling, and trying his best to escape. "I'm not in love with Harada- aaaIIIIEEEEEE STOP STOP STOP!" _

_ With his denial, I only ramped up the tickles. "Lies! You sit on a throne of lies, Hyde! Forfeit now!" _

_ "Okay, okay! Okay!" Hyde crossed his arms once I stopped, and looked away. "I... Oh, please don't tell her, Linne! And don't act like a middle schooler when I'm around her! You'll make it obvious..." _

_ "Obvious? Ah, you have no trust in me, is that it?!" I raise my hand to tickle him more, and he shrieks. _

_ "I do have trust in you!" _

_ "Yeah, right! Stupid!" _

_ "It's- it's true, Linne!" _

_ "That you have trust in me, or that you like that blue haired woman?" _

_ "...Both..." _

_ I snickered. He sighed, losing eye contact with me. "Welp, Hyde, I'll be wingman. Just leave it to ol' reliable Linne!" _

_ "You are not-" _

_ "Ye of little faith! Shush!" _

_ His phone rang. He sighed, and picked it up. "Hello? Oh, wait, really? Oh, drat, I thought that was next Friday. I'll be right there." _

_ I stared at him, "Where are you heading?" _

_ "Oh, don't concern yourself with that. I'll be gone for a while." _

_ "Alright. See ya." _

_ "Goodbye, Linne!" _

_..! _

I awake in a cold sweat.

That last line... Snapped me right out of that dream. Of course... I just had to dream about him. Back when he was alive, that conversation really did happen...

I clench the blanket with my full strength, and get out of bed. I search the box with all the letters.

Aha! "Orie"! This one's to his crush. Oh, I can tell he wrote her name neater than the rest of the names. 

The part from his letter was ringing in my ear.

_ "I have written down farewells to everyone. Orie, Yuzu, Wald, Vat, Seth, and you, of course. _

_ I made one for my parents, too.  _

_ I trust you'll send them off. Unlike this letter, there was a lot of effort put into those!" _

Should I really give this to her..? She's in Licht Kreis! She might inprison me if I approach her-

Oh, right. No one's an in:birth anymore.

What can she do, stab me?

...Though, I guess this letter will make her sad.

...No, Hyde asked me to deliver these. I'll do it.

Thanks, Hyde. Your death turned me into a deliveryman...! 

Now, to find that girl!


	2. Scrunched Up Words

I hid behind one of the bushes near the school, and suddenly my heart beat got faster. I checked the bag with all of the letters, and scanned all of them.

Well, until I saw the one with my name written on it. I picked it up, and my hand started shaking.  To Linne , it read. The handwriting made me emotional.

I suppress the urge to crumple it up, and put it in my jacket pocket. I realized the letter got squished in my tiny pocket, and I didn't bother to fix it.

I don't want to read it.

I DON'T want to read it.

...

Reading it is only going to make you feel worse, Linne. Don't open it. 

What's wrong with being a little selfish from time to time..? I... this is... self care. Yes, self care. Just focus on handing out these letters, and you'll pull through. You've seen many people die, what makes this different?

...

I'm just convincing myself, aren't I?

"...He's not here again..." I heard a familiar voice come from behind me. I tell myself that this is the moment, and peek out from the bush. 

There she is. That Licht Kreis member. Orie...

Last time I was here, it was when Hyde and Orie were speaking together. I could tell Hyde liked her, just from the way he was speaking. 

Makes me wonder, though.

Does she know?

"Kido, where did you go..?" Orie sighs as she passes the bush. I wait until she's farther away before I start trailing her.

Good that she's wrapped up in her own thoughts to not notice me...

~o0o~

Orie sighs as she reaches her hand for the door to her place, and walks right in. I just prance right in there right after her, and raise my hand up in greetings. "Yo."

"WAH!?" She shrieks and throws her bag at me instinctively, and I catch it without trouble. She throws her headband at me, and I catch that as well. She stomped, "What are you doing here!?"

"Hey, relax." I go over to make myself at home, and I dumped the bag filled with letters. I brought them all just in case I ran into more people Hyde wrote to, but it seemed to only be Orie today. "I'm not here to cause trouble, alright?"

"What are you talking about? Are you here to kill me since I'm a Licht Kreis member?" She scooted over to a kitchen drawer and opened one. It had knives. I stared her down with not that much interest.

"What? No. What, did you turning back into a normal human being hurt your IQ or something? I'm here to deliver, uh, mail..?"

She leaned against the counter, her arm near the knife drawer. If she wanted, she could probably attack me now. Yet, I didn't do anything. I trusted her, but only because Hyde liked her. She stopped speaking frantically, and took deeper breaths. "Deliver what..? Did the Princess of the Night Blade have to resort to being a mail carrier?"

"I guess that's one way to put it." I shrugged, and Orie raised her hand up to laugh. Her smile faded quickly after. 

She didn't make eye contact with me, but she still spoke. Her expression was worrying. "Hey... This doesn't have to do anything with Hyde's disappearance, right?"

I looked off to the side of the room, not even wanting to look at her. "It does."

She let out a little tiny gasp. "Wait, so... He has disappeared? You don't know where he is, too?"

"He didn't exactly disappear, child." I took a deep breath before saying this, and I didn't even bother to call her Orie. Just laying on the bad news didn't feel good. The less time I spend talking to her like she's a friend, the better.

"...Then he..." Orie was now looking right at me, her eyes watering.

"He's dead. This was not an accident. He meant for this to happen." I gripped the bag that was filled with letters tighter. Saying that sentence while sounding like it didn't hurt me too... it took all that I had. "He sacrificed himself to end everything about the Night. EXS, in:birth powers, and even the power of organizations such as yours. He thought it would be best for everyone."

"...Why didn't you stop him!?" She slammed the kitchen drawer shut, and I got chills. She's lashing out at me. I expected this, but I didn't expect for me to be this scared. "He can't decide for thousands! He can't! Just on a whim like that!? He's only been an in:birth for how long!?"

"I only knew he sacrificed himself after it happened. He didn't tell me anything. And unfortunately, he already chose for them. If being an in:birth was a comfort for them, it also hurt and ruined the lives of so many other in:births. This is what he thought about. From his viewpoint, he believes becoming an in:birth is a tragedy." I sat still, eye contact maintained. She was wiping away tears.

"...I... I see..."

... Should I even give her the letter right now...? I don't think she'll be able to handle it.

... No, Linne, you're giving it to her now. So you never have to see her again if you don't want to. You might remind her of Hyde...

And honestly? Seeing her reminds me of him, too. The sadness is dwelling up inside of me.

"...Orie. Hyde wrote everyone letters."

"...Huh?"

I looked away, but I stood up and gave her the letter with her name on it. "...He wrote saying that he wanted me to deliver these to everyone... I'm fufilling the request of this dead child."

She took it right from my grasp, and stared at the way her name was written.

_ Orie Harada. _

The sight of his handwriting already made tears fall from her face. I pulled at her uniform, "Please sit down before you read. I'll give you some water."

She dragged her feet and went to sit down to where I was seated. I moved all the letters onto the table, and started pouring drinking water into a cup.

I heard her open the letter, and the rustling of paper gave me more chills. I placed the water on the table and went behind her to read the letter, too.

She didn't mind. I was glad.

_"To Orie_

_You know, I'm not quite sure how to start this letter. In no way is it professional, but, that makes this more personal, right? I'll just go with whats on my mind. I'm not going to erase anything. You've told me I'm honest, so I'll try to uphold that._

_Harada. When I first saw you, I thought you were one of those girls... You know, just the nice ones I'll never get to talk to like a friend. Ones that feel like they're just... barely tolerating me when I speak to them. Stupid pretty, yet always putting up a false front._

_When I showed you around school, you... didn't give that vibe. It didn't feel like you were just putting up with me, either. You were cheerful, curious, a little bit of a klutz... You were honest with me, and your laughs were never forced._

_I enjoyed my time with you at school, Harada. I appreciated the effort you made to keep talking with me. Everyday, you made my day more eventful. Eventually, I looked forward to our chats._

_It took a while for me to accept that I liked you. I denied it, but, that did me no good._

_Oh, sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have written that. If you're seeing this message, I'm dead. Admiting my feelings now might... harm you._

_Sorry. I'm sticking to my promise of not erasing anything._

_Once I barged into the Night for the first time, I had met the real you. I was stunned, and my mind couldn't imagine you being an in:birth, even though it was right in front of me._

_My heart sank at that time. Though I still don't know why you're with Licht Kreis, your kindness never wavered even in battle._

_Mine certainly did, but Insulator made me move to compensate for that._

_You know, your in:birth front isn't too different from your school front._

_That's why I could never hate you, even if we were enemies in the Night._

_You were honest with me, and you didn't tell others about my sword. I thought you would! Thank you._

_I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye to you properly._

_There's no way I could've just mentioned this to you out of the blue. You would've tried to stop me._

_One thing I don't want to do is get loved ones hurt because of my decision. I thought they would beat themself up about it if they couldn't stop me. This is not your fault; it's not anybodys. This was my decision. Though, I guess this is hurting you now. I'm sorry. I'm such a hypocrite._

_I hope you're having a better time without all the EXS and powers. Maybe you liked yourself more when you had them._

_There's no way for me to tell, but..._

_I feel like you wouldn't care and just be mad at me for sacrificing myself._

_I can't blame you._

_Hey, I'm not going to talk down about myself any more in this letter. It just doesn't sit right with me._

_I would've loved to see a future where you're fully free from your past. Though you always seemed happy, it felt like you were hiding something dark._

_Hopefully I helped._

_If you're happy, I'm happy._

_Well, I'll just say this now. No use in hiding it when I've already said it._

_I love you, Harada._

_I love you._

_I'm so sorry that I couldn't tell you face to face._

_Until we meet again. I know we will._

_I love you, and wish you all the best._

_ From, Hyde. " _

... That was an honest letter. As expected from Hyde, but... it was also an emotional letter, wasn't it?

I turn my gaze to Orie, and she's sobbing. I go over and grab tissues from the table, and hand them to her. She only nodded, and blew her nose.

I wiped my eyes with the tissue as well, just in case I had any tears. I look to see if the tissue is wet, and yes, there was clear evidence of me tearing up. I ball it up and throw it in the nearest garbage can. 

"I... Hey, if you want someone to talk to, I'm right here. I may not know you, but... I understand your grief. You may even be suffering more than me." I took another deep breath, and let her just cry it all out before she answers. I added more to what I said while I was at it. "If you want me to leave, too... I won't judge. I will leave right away if that's what you want me to do."

"...No, please stay." Her voice trembled, and her hair was covering her face because she took off the headband. I couldn't see her expression, but I had an idea of what it looked like.

"Okay, I will." I nodded, and handed her another tissue. 

I don't understand the amount of pain she must be feeling. I have not been one for romance, so I won't know what it's like to lose someone you... love. I will never know. I avoid romance, and for a good reason.

Yet... I felt incredibly sad for her. I had no clue if she liked Hyde back, but Hyde was a part of her life none the less.

She started calming down, and even asked me a question. "...May I ask you something?"

"Fire away."

"Is it alright if..."

"...If?"

"...The letter in your pocket. It's all scrunched up. Is that... his letter to you?"

I tensed up, and felt goosebumps.

No. No, I wanted to forget about this letter..!

"You haven't read it, right? Is it alright if you read it here?"

"...Why?"

She looked determined, even with her teary eyes. "I read his letter, and you even read mine. I want to see with my own eyes that his final words reach you, too."

...

What do I do..? Go along with this?

I didn't want to read it anytime soon..!


End file.
